the acting budget director told paul ryan on friday in a letter that we spoke to a request from him that he will not make the deadline. there's no date given. there's rumors the thing could come in march or later which would give republicans a lot of fodder to sort of say the president's fiscally irresponsible. but the reason that's been given is the fiscal cliff deal delayed a lot of preparations. you know, the budget cycle takes months and months of agency planning and back and forth between the office of management and budget and the agencies. so that's the official reason. there's perhaps, also, a strategic reason, submitting that in the middle of the debt ceiling fight could throw a wildcard into the negotiations. so we'll have to see, but definitely not coming by february 4th when it's due. >> host: all right. erik wasson, thank you for laying out all the budget battles to come. thank you. >> guest: thank you. >> and the u.s. house is in session right now debating the rules for the hurricane sandy aid bill. votes starting shortly. live coverage of that on our companion network, c-s